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In 2012, his first season with the Rams, McElwain had fewer than a bankrupt salad bar.

When the Mountain West released its all-conference teams, the highest honor for a Ram went to the kicker. With respect to second-team selection Jared Roberts, who can boom it, that's rarely a good thing. The Rams finished 4-8.

Before McElwain stocks the roster and revs up the playbook like he did as the offensive coordinator at Alabama, he must show the most underappreciated quality of a good coach.

Flexibility.

When we consider great coaches, we think about Coach K and Jim Boeheim and Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. They win with the biggest, strongest, fastest players on the circuit.

How they rack up wins without armies of top draft picks is more impressive than their big-budget counterparts.

The great coach is one who can adjust to fit his playbook to his players. This requires a personality trait that is often foreign in the coaching fraternity: humility.

Sometimes - as was the case for rebuilding CSU in McElwain's first season - the players just aren't there.

"I do get a kick out of guys who come into a place and say, 'This is what I do and this is how we're going to do it.' Well, maybe you don't have those guys to do that," McElwain told me. "For us, the important thing is to figure out what we can do and then fit the parts in there."

One coaching staff that has shown dramatic flexibility is just down the interstate. McElwain and the Rams have spent time around John Fox and the Broncos staff at Dove Valley.

The Broncos once shed a passing offense designed for Kyle Orton in favor of a read-option look with Tim Tebow - then circled back around to Peyton Manning's robust offense.

"That's the strength of any coach, adapting to what a player does well," Manning said after a recent workout at Dove Valley.

McElwain can't say it, but I can: CSU football needs a jolt of athleticism like AD Jack Graham needs a million-dollar donation. Last season there was a glaring lack of speed and playmakers inside Hughes Stadium.

"I think we've really evolved defensively with what kind of guys we have," McElwain said. "We're still getting there on offense. That starts with your trigger guy, too."

The Rams are in the critical process of deciding on their trigger guy. Will it be Garrett Grayson or Conner Smith starting at quarterback?

"I leave that up to them," McElwain said. "One thing you can't do as a coach is force leadership. Leadership emerges because of who you are and what you're all about. We're waiting to see who emerges."

CSU is scheduled to return 15 starters when it opens McElwain's second season against Colorado on Sept. 1.

Here's another option: Should CU and CSU play their annual rivalry game in Denver or rotate between campus sites?